Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, considered by many in Jerusalem as
hostile to Israel, found himself in the unusual situation on Monday of having to
deny reports that Turkey cooperated with Israel in an attack 10 days ago on
three Syrian arms depots in the port city of Latakia.

A Russia Today
report quoted a source as saying the IAF launched the attack, which allegedly
destroyed three depots – containing state-of-the-art, Russian-supplied Yakhont
anti-ship missiles – from a Turkish military base.

“Israeli planes left a
military base inside Turkey and approached Latakia from the sea to make sure
that they stayed out of Syrian airspace so that they cannot become a legitimate
target for the Syrian air force,” RT quoted “a reliable source” as
saying.

Israeli officials declined to comment on this or any reports
about the blast at the Latakia depots.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,
when asked about reports of Israeli responsibility in a CBS interview Sunday,
said, “Oh God, every time something happens in the Middle East, Israel is
accused. I’m not in the habit of saying what we did or we didn’t do. I’ll tell
you what my policy is: My policy is to prevent the transfer of dangerous weapons
to Hezbollah and other terror groups. And we stand by that policy.”

This
was echoed Monday by International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz who, when
asked about reports of Israeli involvement in the attack, said that the Yakhont
missiles – with a range of 300 kilometers – are a threat to Israel. He added
that these missiles were among the best, if not the best, of their kind in the
world.

“We set a policy,” he told Israeli Radio. “That policy is not to
intervene in the civil war in Syria. With that we also set a rule, that we will
make an effort to prevent the leakage of quality weapons, game changing weapons,
to organizations like Hezbollah. That is our position and our
policy.”

“Turkey will neither be a part nor a partner of
such ‘attacks.’ The ones who claim this want to damage Turkey’s power and
reputation,” he said. “It is out of the question that Turkey and Israel are part
of a joint military operation.”

According to Today’s Zaman, the Turkish
foreign minister said that Turkish media outlets spreading those reports were
committing “an act of betrayal.”

According to foreign
reports, when Israel allegedly attacked a Syrian nuclear facility in 2007, IAF
planes on the way back to Israel jettisoned fuel tanks over Turkish territory.
Indeed, it was the discovery of those fuel tanks that led to the disclosure of
the attack, an attack neither Israel nor Syria were interested in revealing:
Syria because of embarrassment, and Israel because it thought it could prevent a
Syrian reaction if it did not “rub Damascus’ nose” in the attack.

Israel
Radio, meanwhile, quoted a Syrian rebel website as saying a senior former
officer in the Syrian navy defected to the rebels and passed on information
about the location of the Yakhont missiles, making contact with US intelligence
through a Turkish intelligence intermediary.

This information, according
to the rebels, allowed Israel to attack the depots through missiles fired from
the sea.

Relations between Israel and Turkey remain tense despite
Netanyahu having apologized to Erdogan in March for the 2010 IDF raid on the
Mavi Marmara flotilla ship.

Following Netanyahu’s apology in March for
any operational errors on board the Mavi Marmara that might have led to a loss
of life, Israel and Turkey launched talks for compensation to be paid to the
families of the nine Turks killed on the boat trying to break Israel’s blockade
of Gaza. Those talks have stalled, as has the normalization of relations that
were expected to be capped by an exchange of ambassadors.

Turkey has been
a vocal proponent of removing Syrian President Bashar Assad from power.
Following the apology to Erdogan in March, Netanyahu said that the volatile
situation in Syria had been behind his decision to make an apology, something he
had previously avoided.

“The fact that the crisis in Syria is getting
worse by the minute was the central consideration in my eyes,” Netanyahu said.
“Syria is disintegrating, and the huge advanced weapons stockpiles are beginning
to fall into the hands of different forces.”

The Syrian reality, which
includes global jihadist elements on its border with Israel on the Golan,
creates tremendous security challenges for Israel, he stated.

“It is
important that Turkey and Israel, which border Syria, can communicate with each
other, and this is true regarding other challenges as well.”